My December began with one of the most thrilling performance experiences in a very long time: the Met Opera premiere of Kaija Saariaho’sL’amour de loin. Another highlight this year was Julia Bullock’s performance in the revised version of Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone at the Ojai Festival.

In honor of Saariaho, here’s a piece I wrote this past spring about women in music:

It took until 1920 for the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to be ratified, guaranteeing female citizens the right to vote. But almost 100 years later, the status quo in classical music still needs a whole lot of shaking up if women are to have any chance of fair representation.